Clean,Non Religious-Reads discussion
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Would you like books to have a content advisory?
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Thanks ever so much for this link! Perfect!
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No absolutely not. The description of the book pretty much tells you what you need to know. It's up to the reader to be informed and read about the books to know if they want to read the book or not. I don't believe in censoring what people read.
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It is the same as the book's synopsis,IMO.
Just letting readers know what it contains so they can choose whether or not it contains elements that are offensive to them,same as a movies G, PG,PG-13, or R rating does for movie gowers.
I really hate being taken by surprise by offensive elements in a book that neither the synopsis nor reviewers mentioned,especially if I paid for the book!
I agree. I always research books as thoroughly as I can but sometimes I just can't find whether there is explicit content or not, however many reviews etc i read! If i take the chance and read it I hate to stumble upon an explicit scene! Ruins it for me and makes me very uncomfortable.
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So do I!! Mostly I can find what I am looking for but the odd occasion I can't. Rating of books I think should exist like ratings of films. :)
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Christine wrote: "Gee, I don't see where a content advisory is 'censoring'! It is the same as the book's synopsis,IMO.
Just letting readers know what it contains so they can choose whether or not it contains elem..."
Absolutely! Saying what something is rated does not give the story away and for those of us with teenagers who read adult books its nice to know beforehand whether the book is going to have any "surprises" we should know about. I always give the books I review a TV rating, I just think its helpful (even for me to remember later on so I know what I can recommend to who).
Content advisories would be SO nice. As it is, I think a lot of us that look for clean books have to rely solely on the advise of others. whether it's people we know in person, or through blogs, or through groups like this. And while these group are fabulous and help so much, we're never going to be able to find ALL of he good, clean books out there. I have discovered that reading the sample chapters is a huge help. There have been a couple books that I thought looked good but within those very first pages, it turned all kind of steamy and inappropriate. Then again, there have been many that don't take a turn for the worst until the middle of the book. So, yes. Content advisories. I'm on board. It's nice that some bloggers and websites do that. Very helpful.
I think content advisories are a great idea. And I agree with you, Annette, sometimes you're in the middle of the book before you discover your mistake. It's a real letdown! I'll have to check out the compass ratings site mentioned above.
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However,I have also seen reviewers state that even those often don't show what you will run into in just a few more pages,and after you buy the book,you get surprised! Fortunately with Amazon you can get you money back within 7 days.You just can't put that book off to be read later!
on kindle you can get a free book sample which can be anywhere from a few pages to three chapters long. But also on a normal computer window if you're looking at books on amazon they'll often give you a sample under the item description. And like you said Amazon has their 7 day guarentee but I always have a stack if books to be read and may not get to my latest purchase for a few months...
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I have bought 3-4 books in the past 2 days,and I have a stack of library books here,so I hope I don't get stuck with a lemon before I remember to check out those I bought,lol!
A content advisory would be so helpful, particularly with indie books. There are so many books out there that capture my fancy, but turn out to be inappropriate and disappoint me. Self publishers have no restrictions, so I wish they'd rate their book upfront.
So, I thought this would be pertinent to this discussion. There is a company that is trying to develop an app that would allow you to block certain content on your ereader. You could block language, sexual content, etc...They are doing a kickstarter, trying to earn the money they need to develop it. If your interested, go watch the video. And pass it along to anyone you think might be interested. I think it would be really cool!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/6...
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That would be really awesome! Do you remember when you could buy DVD players that would block content? (they stopped selling them as far as I know) and there was that company called "Clean Flicks " that would clean up any movie to a PG rating but they ended up going under. (I think movie producers felt it was "messing with the art" so to speak.) Such a shame. Both books and movies would sell better if they could be edited for various audiences...
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There are some 'R'&'PG-13' rated movies I would buy on DVD if they could be cleaned up!
Absolutely!! Its kind of funny though, a friend of mine has one of those DVD players and she was watching 'Dick and Jane ' and her husband was wondering just what kind of raunchy movie she was watching cos the sound kept missing words as they bleeped them. Turns out it was blocking Dick's name. lol
I think it's a great idea. I use a website for movies; it includes a parental advisory, which covers violence/gore, sex/nudity, profantiy,etc. For books, however, I have to read through the reviews and try to make an informed desision. Even then, I have been led astray, as people's ideas of "clean" differ. Thanks for the link! :)
Jumping in late here, but I totally agree with this. I wish retailers especially (particularly B&N and Amazon) had a content rating. Most of the time you can tell when a book is going to be "steamier" but not always. Also, I just got a nice review of one of the books I wrote, but he/she mentioned there are some "steamy" scenes. Kind of made me gasp because there's kissing in my story for sure but nothing more than that. I write what I consider "clean" romances, but everyone has their own tastes and levels of what they prefer to read, so it would be nice to have categories that spell out just how much "steam" novels contain and where they fit.
Applying ratings to movies seemed to work well when first initiated years ago; but now they are all but useless. Movies rated PG today would have been considered NC-17 or at least R when the system was inaugarated.
Since a rating is just someone's opinion, I really don't think it can be truly effective. Like beauty, clean vs. unclean lies in the eye of the beholder.
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Absolutely! Do you all ever use "commonsense media "? they list exactly what is in every movie : swears (what kind and if there's any Fs) sex, explicit or implied, violence whether its 'action' violence or gore ...everything is spelled out. which is great if you're planning a pajama party and want to be absolutely safe before you rent a movie.I try to do a similar thing with my book reviews. tell people what I would want to know.
Dorcas wrote: "Absolutely!...I try to do a similar thing with my book reviews. tell people what I would want to know. "That's exactly why I'm following your reviews. Your work is appreciated!
Just curious; what type of organization would you prefer to regulate implement, and maintain a rating system for books?Federal government, local government, the book's publisher, an appointed committee representing a conglomorate of publishers or commercial vendors, community or religious groups, etc., etc.?
What about SPO's and Indies? There is very little control or third-party input regarding them(technical, promotional, distribution, or otherwise).
it really doesn't need to be so complicated as you make it sound Jim...even music CDs have little stickers on them if there's explicit content. But to answer your question, perhaps publishing houses would be a good place to start. Some authors already have. For instance, in their book 's description you may see the phrase "sweet romance " that term has come to mean romance without sex.
Dorcas wrote: "it really doesn't need to be so complicated as you make it sound Jim...even music CDs have little stickers on them if there's explicit content. But to answer your question, perhaps publishing hou..."
You are probably right. I do tend to sometimes overthink things.
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But to answer your question, perhaps publishing hou..."
I agree totally Dorcas,with the Publishing houses being the first step,and the Booksellers such as Amazon,B&N ,ect being the second step.
I hadn't heard of commonsense media ,but I have them bookmarked now,thanks.It is so awesome that they cover EVERYTHING~books,movies,tv shows,music,even games! :]
I know this is an older discussion page...but thanks for sharing the CompassBookRatings link. My daughter is very interested in using it to locate clean mysteries.
R.L. wrote: "I know this is an older discussion page...but thanks for sharing the CompassBookRatings link. My daughter is very interested in using it to locate clean mysteries."R.L., this site, that Christine recommended in another thread, might be of interest to you:
http://www.thefussylibrarian.com/
You can opt for emails recommending books with your preferences, genre and content.
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I recently came across Inkbok, a subscription based library that is opening soon, and I contacted them this week about the possibility of running a category of "family friendly reads". I received a reply the same day and I quote:
" All books are rated (G, PG, PG-13, R, MA), and similar to Netflix, users will be able to limit which ratings they, or their children, see. When anyone signs up, we require that they enter their date of birth. Thus, if a teen or child signs up, they will only have access to material suitable for their age group."
I'm looking forward to a library like this one, where I can pay 5$ a month and read till I'm bloated with books. I'm particularly interested b/c of their rating system, and I won't be afraid to try out new indie books.
Before I'd sign up with them though, I'd like to do my research.
Does anyone else have experience with a similar library, that they recommend?
Thanks!
CompassBookRatings.com